email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

SEVILLE 2021

The Seville European Film Festival turns 18

by 

- The Spanish gathering comes of age with a potent array of European auteurs, of the calibre of Nanni Moretti, Jacques Audiard, Andrea Arnold and Mia Hansen-Løve, among others

The Seville European Film Festival turns 18
Bergman Island by Mia Hansen-Løve

The immense party that is the Seville European Film Festival is set to celebrate its 18th edition from 5-13 November: its 226 titles, six competition sections and around 30 different activities demonstrate that the gathering has grown dramatically and vigorously, establishing itself as a highly important cultural event. As proof of this, we only need name a few of the filmmakers who find themselves in its Official Section (dubbed “the most striking and refined selection in the history of this festival” by its director, José Luis Cienfuegos): Paris, 13th District [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by France’s Jacques Audiard, which will fire the starting pistol for nine intense days of film this Friday; Italy’s Nanni Moretti, with his latest work, Three Floors [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
; Bergman Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mia Hansen-Løve
film profile
]
by France’s Mia Hansen-Løve; and Andrea Arnold, who makes her non-fiction debut with Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Also rocking up in the Official Section are Spaniards Chema García Ibarra (The Sacred Spirit [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Chema García Ibarra
film profile
]
), Santi Amodeo (The Gentiles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Santi Amodeo
film profile
]
) and Liliana Torres (What Went Wrong? [+see also:
film review
interview: Liliana Torres
film profile
]
), as well as the co-production with Lebanon Costa Brava, Lebanon [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, directed by Mounia Akl. Italy’s Michelangelo Frammartino has been invited with Il Buco [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michelangelo Frammartino
film profile
]
, which reconstructs the first expedition down into one of the deepest caves on the planet. Germany’s Dominik Graf will come along clutching Fabian - Going to the Dogs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albrecht Schuch
film profile
]
, which is an adaptation of the novel by Erich Kastner. Plus, Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul will show off his European co-production Memoria [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, starring Tilda Swinton.

Audiences will also be able to see The Tsugua Diaries [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Nunes Monteiro
interview: Maureen Fazendeiro and Migu…
film profile
]
, helmed by Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes, which unfolds during the pandemic. Fate as the origin of love is the crux of What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandre Koberidze
film profile
]
by Alexandre Koberidze. In addition, Clio Barnard offers up an emotional slice of cinema in Ali & Ava [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
. Ahed’s Knee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nadav Lapid
film profile
]
by Nadav Lapid is an autofiction film with which he condemns the censorship of art in Israeli society. Jonas Carpignano paints a portrait of modern-day Italy with A Chiara [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Carpignano
film profile
]
, while with Great Freedom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sebastian Meise
film profile
]
, Austria’s Sebastian Meise tackles the struggle of a gay man as he fights for his freedom in post-war Germany, because of a law (repealed in 1969) that criminalised homosexuality.

The duo made up of Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige comes back to Seville with Memory Box [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil J…
film profile
]
, which takes a look at the Lebanon of the 1980s. With Saving One Who Was Dead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Václav Kadrnka
film profile
]
, Czech filmmaker Václav Kadrnka talks once again about the absence of a loved one. Medea by Russia’s Aleksandr Zeldovich explores the themes of repressed desires, jealousy and anger, and in Onoda – 10,000 Nights in the Jungle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arthur Harari
film profile
]
, France’s Arthur Harari homes in on a Japanese soldier who has been forsaken on an island, and his titular 10,000 nights in the jungle. Finally, in the Official Section, Out of Competition, Violeta Salama will present her feature debut, Alegría [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, and Salamanca-born helmer Rodrigo Cortés will do likewise with his historical drama Love Gets a Room [+see also:
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Cortés
film profile
]
.

Continuing with the theme of Spanish cinema, the New Waves section will see David Pantaleón vying for the prize with Rendir los machos [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, while in New Waves Non-Fiction, filmmakers Maja Borg (Passion [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Miguel Ángel Blanca (Magaluf Ghost Town [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Ángel Blanca
film profile
]
), Silvia Rey Canudo (Wan Xia), Marc Sempere-Moya and Leire Apellániz (Cosmic Chant. Niño de Elche [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leire Apellaniz and Marc Se…
film profile
]
) and Eliane Raheb (Miguel’s War [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) will go head to head. Furthermore, Alvaro F Pulpeiro will take part in Permanent Revolutions with So Foul a Sky [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and José Luis Estañ will partake in Extraordinary Histories with A diente de perro. On the other hand, Manuel Martín Cuenca and Benito Zambrano will introduce The Daughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
and Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benito Zambrano
film profile
]
 (previously presented at San Sebastián and the Seminci, respectively) as special screenings.

To round things off, it’s worth noting that the festival, which will be brought to a close by Belfast [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Kenneth Branagh’s most personal movie to date, will host the unveiling of the nominees for the 34th European Film Awards at 12 pm on 9 November, as well as a well-stocked list of professional events. Standing out among these are the European Coproduction Forum, which this year has invited Germany as its guest country, and the recently founded Seville Film Festival Independent Film Market, MERCI Sevilla (see the news).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Spanish)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy